Freedom Lost

FREEDOM LOST

Thousands of women are trafficked yearly in Cambodia and enslaved into brothels, forced to pay off “debts” accrued by either a family member or a previous owner. Life is extremely grim as these women are sometimes forced to serve 20 clients a day, earning $1-4/day. They are tortured, raped, beaten, malnourished, diseased, often impregnated and have no access to health care. Approximately one in ten sex slaves are children under the age of 16 and sometimes as young as five. A girl’s virginity is a valuable commodity, culturally believed to cure AIDS when taken, and condoms are barely used. There is little hope for survival under a corrupt government, whose policemen are among the brothels’ customers. Inside the dirty, dark corners of these dilapidated walls, freedom is a foreign word.